Joke’s on them, I found other hobbies.
Jokes on them, I found other hobbies.
The main problem I have with RAM increasing in price is lot the RAM itself. I personally have anoigj RAM in my PC and I’m not looking to upgrade at any point in the near future.
No, my issue is how everything else becomes more expensive because of it.
Infrastructure requires two things these days: fuel and computers. And both are getting fucked over. Because of all the things that rely on this infrastructure, everything, even mundane things, will increase in price.
And when the bubble eventually pops, everyone below the ultra rich will suffer for it, another major economical crash like 2008. And of course the people responsible will get away with it.
“the people responsible will get sway with it”
Not only will they get away with it, but they will make massive profits off of it. They will be buying up foreclosed houses, colluding with their friends to short stocks of businesses they buy up and and run into the ground, buying the dip, and still having more than enough leftover to live how they are currently living.
Every time there is one of these recessions or economic crisises, the rich get a lot richer. To them it’s just “buying season”. They have enough money to wait it out.
Make everything so expensive that only corporations and the rich can afford it, they’ll buy everything and lease it to us “as a service”.
Capitalism is just feudalism with more math.
I think it’s interesting (and probably telling) that this comment section is largely concerned about consumer gaming memory than like, the cumulative cost increases that this creates in a computer-dependent global economy.
We had been wasting RAM like it was free. Nobody was optimizing anything. The impact on actually productive activity will be minimal.
The main danger these companies pose to the economy is when the bubble pops.
One of the benefits of AI, we either keep older HW longer or help to increase inflation by replacing. All this in the hope that people get value for chatting up a machine.
I stocked up on computers from before 2008/Intel/IME. They still good.
“Intel Inside!”
Yeah no shit can you be less obvious?
More billion (or trillion) parameters give exponentially less return, and they keep adding parameters (which also increases the cost exponentially) anyway. This is just one of the infinite signs that those companies don’t give a single f*** about society or the well being of the population.
Test yourself on Ollama now, since the servers are way more stable as of now. Deepseek-4.1 is just as good as GPT-6.
Edit: you have to create an interface with tools for using Ollama Cloud, and this isn’t exactly directly available as of now, so keep that in mind before signing in.
Edit2: Deepseek-V4 comparing itself to other models
When Token is more expensive than people, “AI narrative” is in trouble, Chinese
Hey maybe creating a parastatal system that promotes psychopathic greed and wealth accumulation that supersedes the rule of democracy and basic human goals for society wasn’t such a good idea after all.
I’d recommend openrouter or something over ollama cloud. Fuck giving meta money. Or a subscription, since those tend to give much more tokens per dollar if utilized properly, I’m going through so many GLM 5.3 flash tokens it’s not even funny, on the cheapest z.ai coding plan, nearly never running out of usage limits, and getting nearly as good results as Claude Opus just a few months ago (like 4.8 or 5, not some old version)
Unless you can actually afford the ram prices, just play older games. There’s a ton of AAA games that I’ve never played.
Then there’s tons of remastered games too. I haven’t touched those. Older games are affordable and run on max settings with any modern computer.
We already have a life time of quality games and computer parts in circulation.
I think when we look back at this time we will see how new games are optimized and intended to run on lower end hardware rather than the “look how real it is” formula.
A good example is borderlands. Cell shading was created because it was aesthetically pleasing while also consuming the least amount of resources. When optimization and performance were no longer a problem, games like border lands used cell shading but still required all lot of resources.
Also indie games tend to be quite good, I’m currently playing Obenseuer and my buddy and I are doing a run of Abiotic Factor with Valheim and possibly Permafrost on the list. Have to see how Permafrost plays.
Still playing tf2 <3
Are you a furry, a queer or a nazi? (Not exclusive) (Im pootis man)
The best DDR4 CPU (5800X3D) isn’t a bottleneck until you get past 5090 levels of GPU performance. By the time I can afford better than 5090 performance I will be unable to afford DDR6.
How about we throw all the republicans in prison and use their brains for processing power
That amount of processing power wouldn’t play Doom.
If we link them all together we might be able to manage pong
It’d be funny to force crysis on them anyways.
I’d be in favor of putting Trump and his ilk in prison, but explicitly still letting him campaign and run his grifts. Here’s the deal though… He doesn’t get any real money for it, he just gets “prison bucks” that get him nicer treatment/amenities. We take all the actual money he generates from grifting, and use it to fund education in the areas that lost the most money in the con.
It’s a double whammy to find hotspots of the stupidest, most gullible people on the planet, and also getting their children properly educated and able to recognize and avoid the same scams their parents fell for.
We should organize raiding parties on data centers to get PC parts, pirate style yarrrr, and disrupt AI while doing it. Burn it down to leave no trace.
Pull in close and fire grapeshot broadside!
Jam the robot guard dogs and use thermite to burn through locks you mean. Break open the server racks, grab the loot, burn the rest.
Please don’t shoot frag into the booty you want to loot.
Jokes on you we will soon be raiding data centers for fresh water
Two birds…two birds
Because what are we going to do with PC parts when we don’t have any electricity anymore. Sadface
“RAM to see ‘meaningful price increases’ before 2026 is out, as the memory crisis is predicted to last ‘at least’ another 3 years of people not buying any.”
Also it has no meaning.
I’m having difficulty understanding what you’re trying to say here. This words in bold are not anywhere in the article.
If you’re suggesting that demand for RAM is low, you simply do not understand the situation. Demand for RAM is higher than it has ever been, it’s just not consumer demand.
Well I’m not a bot and I rephrased the title to reflect my opinion. So there’s the explanation. Of course the demand from useless data centers will always be there; I was implying that the median consumer has been priced out of the equation. Same with other components. This is already having a ripple effect on multiple industries; the next price hike will put a lot of nails in a lot of coffins.
Demand never slows after a bubble pops. never.
Bubbles never take longer than 3 years to pop. Never.
Exactly. Stocks go up forever. They will be making trillions in profits year over year soon enough. Alll that capex has to return on investment and they absolutely will, it’s unquestionable!
STOP BUYING TECH. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP. THE ONLY REASON PRICES KEEP GOING UP LIKE THIS IS BECAUSE PEOPLE AREN’T WILLING TO SACRIFICE COMFORT TO MAKE A POINT.
Buy used. Use hand me downs. Learn a new operating system to get new life out of stuff you already HAVE.
If people can’t give up access to shitty software to save tech, there’s no hope for the species. Period.
The prices are going up because big tech is buying it all up. Consumer sales quantities are way down due to the prices.
Sadly not. Their 2026 consumer revenue is the highest it’s ever been. 2020, they made 11 billion, of which 5.5 was consumer. FY 2026 was 215 billion, of which 16 was gaming.
Their 2026 gaming revenue was bigger than their total revenue for 2020, and it’s also irrelevant to their bottom line.
Prices have gone up too, but I don’t think the average gaming GPU has gone up significantly more than 3x and probably less, so unit count is either unchanged or increased.
They have tripled in price it’s insane, OP is talking about RAM not GPU but they both have similar trends.
My bad, I was reading the sibling comment to mine which was about nvidia specifically and replied to the parent one, which was not. RAM has indeed way more than tripled. A 5060ti is about 50% expensive, so nvidia’s consumer unit counts are up still, but my comment was aimed somewhat wrong lol.
Nvidia hasnt even mentioned consumer grade GPUs seperately anymore in their quarter year rapport. It has been moved over to edge computing. Their main income is data center GPUs now.
I think consumer GPUs are like a hobby for Nvidia at this point. They would make more money if they stopped making them so they could use that fab time for their higher margin enterprise GPUs instead.
Prices are high because demand is driven by AI companies with mountains of investor cash. A consumer RAM boycott doesn’t move the needle.
I’m not building a PC or buying a computer because I can make due with what I have a few years longer. But I do desperately need a new laptop at the office, so work is paying an outrageous sum of money for a new computer.
I’m also getting a few new employees - each of which is gonna need a computer
It businesses, not hobbyists paying these increased prices.
I’m still perfectly fine in my 6+ years old Gaming PC with 16GB.
But then again I switched from Windows to Linux about 2 years ago.
Since the time I started using PCs (over 3 decades ago), I went down the route of squeezing as much as I could from my desktop PCs by upgrading the hardware piece by piece rather than periodically buying a new one - to the point that I think I’ve done maybe just 3 full replacements in those 3 decades - the upgrades most of the time being memory, graphics cards and storage upgrades as those tend to be the best bang for the buck, though a few times all the way to replacing the motherboard (which sometimes forces things like memory upgrades and once even a computer box and power source upgrade, in the transition to ATX physical format).
All this to say that in the last few years since Windows has become so bloated and inneficient, Linux’s capabilities to run Windows software have become so good and the prices of the usually best value hardware upgrades (memory, graphics cards) have become so high that, in my (I believe informed) view, the best performance upgrade for one’s PC right now for most people is literally to replace Windows with Linux.
This isn’t fanboyism speaking - I’ve been using Linux for fun since the early 90s when I would install Slackware from floppy disks, professionally for a large part of my career (which was developing software for the server side, were Linux became dominant in the 00s) and only switched my Gaming PC to it 2 years ago because I before I didn’t feel it wasn’t at all hassle free to game in Linux and I didn’t want to come how to unwind from spending all day programming and doing bug-fixing just to be stuck at diagnosing problems running some game or other in Linux - this is genuinelly my analysis based on my experience of improving my PC almost always by targetted upgrading piece by piece to improve performance rather than regularly buying new machines.
In fact, I’ve done this upgrade not just for myself but also for a family member whose Windows 8 (!) PC had become incompatible with pretty much everything the used - put Linux in, put up the desktop shortcuts for them to get to what they use (browser, e-mail), configure the thing to auto-update and it’s problem solved.
Many people have been delaying their upgrades for a long time already. I bought my old RAM 2015 and tried to convince myself for so long that it’s still fine until I finally upgraded this year.
Buying RAM used often isnt really a good idea unless you have a friend who makes you a good deal. For example I could find the RAM type I wanted for 180€ used or pay 220€ for new parts. That’s not worth it for me and also doesn’t make a dent into the market.
Also remember that most new hardware is sold to either computing providers or businesses. ~70% of memory produced is consumed by AI data centers, leaving only 30% for mobile devices and personal computing.
Don’t get me wrong, consuming less and buying used are still good ambitions, but it realistically has no impact on how prices are formed.
CEX in the UK do 5 year warranties on used hardware. Realistically you would probably just get a voucher rather than cash if it failed but you could then buy another replacement at least.
My eight year old computer is going to be getting towards eleven years old by the time I upgrade it again at this rate.
Could you upgrade one part at a time or is it a laptop? A used GPU could be a cheaper upgrade, or a cpu if you’re not maxed out for the socket
That’s the age of the motherboard and cpu. The cpu could be upgraded significantly, but the main problem I’ve been seeing is insufficient pci-e lanes, which would require the motherboard replacement I’d been vaguely planning for early this year.
Linux plus junk PCs. I’ve got a bunch of old computers my workplace tossed out because they wouldn’t take Windows 11 and I’ve never been happier with my tech setup in my life.
It’s probably some sort of mental condition, but I freaking love going trash-panda on our recycle PC pile and refurbing old hardware.
listen buddy, I’ve been getting computer junk every month for 20+ years. It’s all I think about and I still haven’t gotten addicted. If life has taught me anything is that the only thing you can’t get addicted to is free computer junk . how can I be addicted if it makes me happy? Computer junk is therapy, junking computers is LITERALLY my therapy. Life is free computer junk, everyday I wake up and I think about free computer junk. Every morning I grab my laptop and start looking on craigslist while I make my morning coffee. It’s literally all I think about, I can’t be at peace if I don’t junk at least 20$ a day. BUYING NEW IS JUST A PHASE. but I know a big junk pile is always right around the corner that’s why I’ll keep junking IT equipment until my wife leaves me.
Buying used is per se not a bad idea, but the high RAM prices also mean more scammers, as it is now very profitable to scam people with fake RAM. And people need tech, so not a really an option to stop buying completely.
And I doubt prices would go down if consumers would stop buying or buying less RAM. The prices are high because the tech corporations are willing to buy RAM at basically any cost. Consumers are just a drop in the ocean at this point.
If tech is going to be usurped entirely, then reject it. I’ve started doing everything I can by mail and physical presence. Don’t buy the hype that you NEED tech. If your friends won’t let you change how you get in touch with them, then they’re not that good of friends and you don’t really need them.
If all of my stacked 15 year old computers here stop being able to access Lemmy? Oh well. It’s been fun.
This is a war. They are winning because we are willing to have a point where we say, “Well, this is the limit… I have to capitulate now.” They rub their hands together gleefully waiting for you to cave.
Don’t. Be stubborn. Because if we don’t it’s already over. Legislators and underfunded foundations are not going to save us.
Yeah I’d rather no computer or no internet at all than to accept the cloud. I’ll find other hobbies and entertainment.
They don’t care about hobbyists. They don’t need the tech.
But business users do.
So it creates a world where normal people no longer use tech, and the vast majority of tech is used by businesses for productivity purposes in the office while everyone else makes due with real life?
Like in the 90s?
Sounds like paradise to me. Starve out these cash-grab. psychologically manipulative disposable code subscription services.
I’ll still have tech but my spec requirements will decrease based on price. If that means I am compiling CDDA on a 2008 pentium laptop then so be it!
I would rather somewhat more modern and more energy efficient hardware, but when costs of hardware are so high then the energy costs of old hardware matter less.
Yeah, but guys… Be reasonable.
At best AI will be amazing and steal our jobs, enrich the wealthy further, and destroy the environment.
And at worst it will reach a wall it can’t overcome and continue to fuck up humanity.
It’s a win-win!!1!
microsoft’s own evaluation chills me, because it’s spot on, and THEY STILL WENT FULL FUCKIN HOG deepthroating this garbage:
“Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” an internal Microsoft document admitted.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-is-creating-doom-loops-all-over-the-economy
“we’re literally creating the need for a communist revolution, but the stockholders demand it!”
I mean, OK, we’re all accelerationists now I guess, ducky!
yeah I was kinda surprised to see that level of honesty from the slop factory.
The massive financial crash that will wipeout those assholes might the only real “win” the rest of us get.
Of course, judging by the last one in 2008 (which, IMHO, I suspect will turn out to be smaller than the AI one), governments the world over will try to save the assholes and make the rest of us pay for it with Austerity - if there’s one thing I’ve learned from living through a couple of major crashes (in the very industries most hardly hit) and several minor ones is that when those in power see that they can rescue the wealthy whilst making the rest pay with no consequences for themselves, they’ll do it again and again in ever more extreme ways, until things at a societal level rather than just crack, actually blow up.
We shall see - there is really no way the rest of us can stop the desperate feeding frenzy amongst the increasingly panicked elites and their politician minions before the whole thing crashes from the systemic accumulation of inbalances, so no matter what we (the common folk) do, we’re going to get a massive AI crash - probably as big as the Net Crash and the 2008 Crash together - the more the feeding freenzy lasts (and governments as usual are activelly trying to delay the day of reckoning, hence making the feeding frenzy last longer and hit deeper) and the more of the broader Economy the sharks can reach, the worse it will be.
It’s not a crisis when it’s artificial… Just stop allowing companies to hoard shit…
But hoarding shit and accumulation is what capitalism does.
The fact that we as a species have not already collectively decide to enforce the rule that once you get to $100M you get a “YOUR DID IT” trophy and a spot on a private tropical island where you can do hookers and blow for the rest of your life while any further increases in your wealth are nationalised is proof we are, in fact, a bunch of fools.
I demand it end now
